Grandma Stories» Health

Homemade Do It Yourself Blogs – Make Your Own Shampoo and Conditioner, Household Cleaners

Grandma — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:33:19 +0000

I absolutely love do it yourself blogs, where easy to follow instructions and “recipes” are given to learn how to make your own this or that. Whether it’s making your own shampoo and conditioner, do it yourself style, or making homemade “green” household cleaners and homemade laundry soap to avoid harmful chemicals or just to save money, I love them all.

Even though we haven’t yet tried some of the homemade shampoo and conditioner recipes quite yet, experimenting will be fun, in order to find which recipes for shampoos and conditioner’s work the best and don’t strip color from color-treated hair.

I’ve been coloring my hair for many years, and the fact that there are ingredients and additives in shampoo that actually strip color from your hair, cause hair loss, and is very irritating to your scalp, makes the idea of making your own chemical-free shampoo and conditioner quite interesting.

Common “bad” shampoo ingredients to avoid at all costs, often found in “cheap” shampoos, especially if you color-treat your hair include:

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate
Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate
TEA Lauryl Sulfate
Sulfur, in dandruff shampoos
Selenium Sulfate, also in dandruff shampoos
Magnesium Sulfate
Sodium Thinsulfate
Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate
Alkyl Sodium Sulfate
Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate
TEA-Dodecylbenzene
Sodium C12-15 Alkyl Sulfate
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfonate

Color-treated hair already takes a beating from the chemicals and additives found in over the counter color-treating products to color your hair at home, as well as those used in hair salons. Spending the money to color or highlight your hair can get quite expensive over the long-term, so having chemical-laden shampoo and/or conditioner strip the color right back out of your hair is a lose-lose situation for anyone. Homemade, natural shampoo and conditioner recipes are a great idea, aren’t loaded with harmful chemicals, and are a huge cost savings.

Homemade Laundry Soap and Household Cleaners

Make your own laundry detergent and homemade fabric softener? Sure! There are lots of homemade laundry soap recipes available online, as well as recipes for natural fabric softeners, that have only a couple of ingredients and without the all-too-common chemicals more and more people would like to avoid. The quick and easy directions for the recipes are great, and many include pictures and even video how-to details to show the step-by-step instructions, proving that anyone can make their own laundry soap, shampoo and conditioners, and chemical-free household cleaners.

Matt and Betsy Jabbs of Do It Yourself Natural have created a downloadable homemade cleaners guide, with 84 pages of natural household cleaner recipes and instructions that you’re going to want just as much as I did, and explanation of why using natural cleaners is so important. In it you’ll find chapter after chapter full of easy recipes for making your own household cleaners such as:

Homemade Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener
Homemade Spray Starch for Ironing
Homemade Stain Pre-treaters
Homemade Liquid Dish Soap
Homemade Automatic Dishwasher Detergent
Homemade Kitchen Sink Scrubbers
Homemade Drain Cleaners
Homemade Garbage Disposal Freshener
Homemade “Green” Countertop Disinfectant
Homemade Granite Cleaner and Polish
Homemade Fruit and Vegetable Wash
Homemade Fume-Free Microwave and Oven Cleaners
Homemade Shower Spray and Soap Scum Preventer
Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaners
Homemade Mold and Mildew Cleaner Recipes
Bathroom Cleaners
Natural All-Purpose Cleaners
Homemade Wood Dusting Sprays & Cleaners
Natural Hardwood Floor Cleaners

Natural wall cleaner recipes for removing wall marks and sticky hand prints, natural air fresheners, carpet cleaners and deodorizer’s are also included in this very well created publication. The DIY home cleaning guide covers everything you want to know about how to make your own cleaning products that are chemical free, good for your health and the environment, and at great savings to your wallet. Visit the homemade, DIY Natural blog for information on how you can get this great ebook download stocked full of how-to home cleaning, natural personal care products like shampoo and conditioner, and make your own laundry soap and fabric softener recipes. You’ll be glad you did.

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Edumacation Schmedumacation – Edumacating Myself For Advancement

Grandma — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:19:48 +0000

No, that title is not a typo. I fully intended on misspelling the word education for the urban slang term edumacation, which is just a silly way of saying I’ve been swamped with educating myself for advancement opportunities I’m currently seeking in my professional life. Unfortunately, I’ve been edumacating myself and taking a whole host of tests for certification purposes while being sick, but nothing keeps this ‘ol girl down.

Furthering my education professionally, and getting my hands on the final test results and official certifications to add to my ever-growing collection of certificates of achievement and professional licenses, are among some of my many personal goals set for myself over the last year or two. I don’t care how old a person gets, I’m only 51 now, you’re never to old to learn and create advancement opportunities for yourself in whatever profession is chosen.

In my career profession, there are many options available for advancement and growth. I aim to grab onto every single one of the advancement opportunities available to someone with my level of education, certification/licensing and many years of experience, and see where furthering my edumacation takes me.

Onward and upward is a term I’m known to use quite often, being the type of person who refuses to take no for an answer, and being highly skilled at what I do professionally. Educating myself for advancement opportunities often includes change. Change in professional philosophy based on intense research and advanced education, and sometimes even change in where one performs their professional duties. Change is good for you, and change is good for me too.

Being stagnant doesn’t suit me well at all. I’ve always needed a challenge, new things to learn and do, increased opportunities for greater things especially in my professional life. Getting edumacated (hehehe) in ways that completely change your whole way of seeing your profession and how you choose to fulfill your career/job responsibilities can sometimes be startling, shocking really.

Once reality sets in, after the mental and emotional turmoil and extremely troubling realization that some professional philosophies are nothing but money-driven nonsense, anger and disillusionment sets in. Some forms of formal education should really be called schmeducation. Pure garbage really. One of the reasons I haven’t posted anything new on this blog for a few weeks is due to the fact that several things regarding my profession have been scientifically proven to not only be flat out wrong, but detrimental and harmful to one’s health over the longterm.

I’m in a service profession, providing an important and necessary service to clients in the health industry, and the devastating realization (scientifically proven facts) that at least some of the job responsibilities I’ve personally been responsible to perform or assist in performing are not only unhealthy, but dangerous to one’s health over time. The mental and emotional toll has been enormous, and my conscience no longer allows me to perform those same duties, nor advocate those procedures as safe and effective and healthy.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from furthering my education through research and study, is the vital importance of researching and studying the evidence presented by those who do not agree with a particular health subject, or any subject for that matter. Pick a topic, research and read about the evidence presented on the “for or pro” side, but then do the same research and study on the “against or negative” side of the subject. To say that I wish I knew then what I know now, specifically regarding my chosen health profession, is the understatement of the century.

The fact that I’ve been sick, due to the changing of the seasons, makes wrapping my mind around the scientific evidence against aspects of my profession even harder to deal with. Question authority, always. Questions and doubt are good things in my opinion. Blind faith in authority figures or authority organizations, without taking the time necessary to delve deep into the research study results on any and all health-related topics, is only asking for trouble down the line. Been there done that.

But no more. Having spent the last few weeks coming to terms with the truth behind various health matters in my career profession that are basically drilled into the minds of people through television, news media outlets and a multitude of high-powered health organizations (whose only focus and attention is on money and profits), change is coming my way. And the results are going to include enjoyable challenges, job promotion with much higher pay, continued advancement opportunities, and most important of all to me – a clear conscience. Change is good. Bring it on.

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Healthy Living – Eating Healthy On a Budget

Grandma — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:13:17 +0000

Living a healthy lifestyle of course includes eating healthy, learning even the basics of nutrition and understanding the many benefits of healthy eating on the body, mind and spirit. For people living on a budget, eating healthy may seem to be an impossible task, especially with food prices going up and trying to make ends meet in a down economy.

I’ve had a strong interest and desire for quite some time now to read and learn everything I possibly can about natural health and proper nutrition, in order to ensure that Grandpa and I are living and eating the healthiest ways humanly possible. Making proper food choices, receiving the greatest benefits from the four main food groups, getting in a healthy amount of exercise, etc.

Researching topics of interest is sort of an obsession of mine, to the extent that I’m sometimes referred to as a researchaholic. To say that I read a lot is an enormous understatement. Whether my reading is through books, science magazines, alternative medicine articles, holistic information or natural health websites and highly reputable authors, some newly found health-related discoveries have shocked me.

Previous long-held beliefs have been shattered to pieces due to overwhelming evidence proving what I thought to be true and beneficial for good health and wellbeing to be quite the contrary. “I wish I knew then what I know now” about a variety of important health issues, but I can only move forward and make changes to the products we buy, foods we eat or don’t eat, and that is only one reason why we chose to plant an organic garden in the backyard.

Having our own garden certainly helps the food budget, since we don’t have to buy those fruits or vegetables from the grocery store or farmers markets in our local area. We religiously buy certified organic foods as much as we possibly can and our budget allows, and regularly buy from local farmers markets who don’t use harmful pesticides and herbicides. I am very appreciative and grateful that there are so many truly nutritionally balanced healthy cookbooks with fast and easy recipes, websites, books, articles and blogs that help explain real nutrition and natural health, far beyond what is commonly believed to be “healthy”.

One of several quick and simple changes we’ve made in our diet is the elimination of typical table salt, which is really sodium chloride and lacking of any real nutrients. Having researched healthy vs. unhealthy salts to my hearts content, and comparing information on real sea salt and the health benefits from eating salt that naturally contains needed minerals that table salt lacks, we opted for stone ground Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt over Celtic Sea Salt (which is a really good salt too).

We’ve been making very good use of our Breville juicer, making many healthy vegetable and/or fruit juices without any additives or preservatives commonly found in store-bought juices, enjoying the benefits of the natural vitamins and nutrients found therein without the ridiculous high levels of sodium. We’re also thrilled to have discovered how good eating quinoa is for overall health with some magnificent recipes we’ve found, and we’re in process of learning all about making healthy smoothies with a blender vs. (hopefully not) having to buy a smoothie maker machine.

Being over the age of 50 now, it’s important that both Grandpa and I are getting all of the vitamins, minerals and healthy nutrients necessary for good health, primarily from making good food choices, but also understanding what is or isn’t good for us when it comes to vitamin supplements. Learning that some/many vitamin supplements actually have toxic fluoride in them or are laced with fluoride, researching and choosing 100% healthy supplements is a top priority.

There is a lot more to eating healthy, really healthy, than just choosing to eat a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, green leafy vegetables and salads loaded with raw vegetables. Considering what I’ve learned so far about living a healthy lifestyle, I can at least understand why so many people nowadays have chosen a vegetarian or vegan diet, even though Grandpa and I are nowhere near ready to concede to not eating meat at all. Greatly reducing our meat intake is one thing, but completely eliminating meats of any kind would not only be extremely challenging but highly unlikely, at least as far as Grandpa is concerned.

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What is Quinoa? Nutrition Facts and Recipes For Quinoa

Grandma — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:19:13 +0000

Quinoa? What is that?, I asked. Pronounced “Keen-wah”, not Kee-no-wah, quinoa is something I had never heard of until very recently and wanted to find out more. Friends were discussing a website called “Cooking Quinoa“, which has recipes for cooking with quinoa with lots of delicious looking pictures of foods made with it.

Based on everything I’ve read so far about quinoa, its numerous health benefits and the nutritional facts shown on bulk packages I found, adding quinoa to our diet is a smart choice. We’re not vegetarian or vegan by any means, we do enjoy eating lean meats for sure, but we have been reducing our consumption of fatty meats over the last few months.

So, my next question was, where can I buy quinoa? I happened to find some organic quinoa, made by the brand called Nature’s Earthly Choice, while browsing around in Costco yesterday. The package says quinoa is a 100% whole grain, gluten free, wheat free and an excellent choice of protein. Quoting from the back of the 4 lb resealable bag of quinoa, the nutritional benefits of quinoa are described as follows:

“Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a highly nutritious gluten free seed, originally from the Andean region of South America. It’s mild, slightly nutty flavor makes it a terrific substitute for rice or couscous. Quinoa, praised for its excellent nutritional profile, is an exceptional source of protein, containing all eight amino acids, making quinoa an excellent option for people looking to reduce their consumption of meat. Quinoa is also a good source of dietary fiber and contain B vitamins and iron.

More and more consumers are seeking great tasting and nutritious gluten-free options. Our organic Quinoa is one of the very best. Quinoa is extremely versatile and easy to prepare. Cooked quinoa makes a delicious side dish when mixed with vegetables and seasonings. You can use our quinoa for everything from breakfast cereals, to soups and salads, or add to your favorite chili recipe. Quinoa is also great as a filling for fun and healthy burritos or tacos. Our quinoa is pre-washed so you can simply cook and eat, no need to presoak or rinse.

Using two cups of liquid per cup of quinoa, combine liquid and quinoa in a sauce pan or rice cooker. Bring the mixture to a vigorous boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, until quinoa is tender but still chewy and white spiral-like threads appear around each grain, about 15 minutes. You can make a larger batch of quinoa and store it in your refrigerator. During the week as you need it, pull the desired amount of cooked quinoa from your refrigerator and add to your favorite recipes.”

Cooking quinoa ahead of time and refrigerating portions is a great idea for busy people like us who don’t have a lot of time for meal preparation, but actually prefer quick and easy recipes. Quinoa leaves are eaten like a leafy vegetable, which would make growing quinoa in a garden a great addition to all the other vegetables and fruits, if the soil and climate requirements are met.

Wikipedia has an extensive description of what quinoa is, including detailed explanations of the nutritional facts about quinoa in general, and the red and black quinoa varieties. Quinoa is incredibly versatile and there are so many different ways of using it on a daily basis. Considering how healthy and beneficial quinoa is for overall health and wellbeing, it just makes sense to buy quinoa in bulk and always have it in stock.

Quinoa can be prepared and used in many different recipe dishes, including breakfast meals. Use quinoa in cereals, yogurt, pudding, smoothies, juices, burgers, salads, soups, breads, muffins, pancakes, chicken recipes, and more. I found some quinoa flakes too, besides the seed variety, so we’re going to be buying both types.

I’m anxious to try quinoa seeds or flakes in a lean turkey meatloaf recipe I have, but I would imagine meatloaf made with lean beef and quinoa would be delicious too. The quinoa cooking website mentioned above has spectacular pictures and How-To instructions of meals prepared with quinoa, and there’s even a quinoa cookbook available for free download.

But, where do you find and buy quinoa? Not all stores carry it, but many health food stores do. I found the one brand of organic quinoa at Costco but I don’t want to be limited to just the one brand, and I want to buy quinoa in bulk vs smaller bags or boxes found in some grocery stores. Searching online for where to buy quinoa, including black and red quinoa in 10 or 25 lb bulk sizes, I found quinoa pasta, noodles, flour, flakes and seeds offered by different brands. Brand names like Ancient Harvest, Nature’s Path, Earthly Delights, Roland, Bob’s Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills, Eden Organic and others.

I don’t think you can ever have too many cookbooks, so when I heard about the quinoa cookbook called Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood and another cookbook called The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes, I just had to have all three. The rice cooker/steamer is plugged in and ready for some major cooking and experimenting with quinoa recipes this week and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

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Home Canning For Beginners – Canning Books, Equipment and Supplies

Grandma — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:58:08 +0000

Home canning and preserving have been around forever, but I’ve only known a couple of people in my lifetime so far who know how to can. Learning how to can fruits and vegetables grown in our organic garden is a relatively new interest of mine, and it only makes sense to learn as much as possible about the basics of canning in order to can correctly the first time around, hopefully.

Being an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge on many different topics, acquiring books on home canning that explain exactly how home canning is done, the needed canning jars and supplies, and of course a variety of tasty recipes for the canned goods is a must-do for canning beginners like me. Fortunately, technology advances have improved the options available for people wanting to begin canning for the first time, where the “old fashioned” way of canning isn’t the only way anymore.

I only have a vague recollection of seeing someone in the process of canning in their kitchen when I was a very young girl, and if memory serves correctly, she was canning by boiling the dickens out of stuff the old fashioned way. Mason jars and lids were everywhere, as were a variety of prepared and seasoned vegetables and fruits, waiting to be put into the canning jars and added to the huge pot of boiling water on the stove.

Growing our own vegetables and some fruits in our garden is a lot of work and very time consuming, but the benefits of organic gardening far outweigh the so-called negatives of needing to spend so much time and getting dirty in the hot summer heat. The fruits of our labor are well worth the time and effort, and being able to preserve foods by canning some of what we grow to greatly increase the shelf-life is a great advantage.

Although we haven’t yet actually begun home canning quite yet, we are in the process of gathering the various supplies and cooking utensils recommended for people wanting to begin home canning. We’re looking into home canning kits and comparing prices and reading reviews on a variety of pressure cookers and boiling canners, in order to make an informed decision of the best way to start canning.

Stocking up on mason jars and lids for successful canning is of course necessary, and we’ve been on a hunt to find where to buy canning jars at the best prices, whether online or in a brick and mortar store. I’ve heard that home canning equipment and supplies can sometimes be found rather cheaply online, on eBay and other sites, so we’ll be checking those listings out soon for best prices and shipping costs.

We’ve been putting our power juicer to good use with some of the organic fruits and vegetables from our garden and others bought at local farmers markets that we aren’t growing ourselves, and starting home canning for the sometimes overabundance of foods grown just seems to be the next natural step. Home canned jams and jellies are absolutely delicious, without all of the added “junk” found in store-bought varieties, and having tasted a few samples of veggies preserved by home canning makes canning our own that much more enticing.

Having talked to a couple of people who do home canning regularly about what kinds of canning jars to buy and why, it seems most prefer the Ball brand, but one person mentioned liking the Kerr brand better. The wide mouth Ball mason jars get high recommendation, so we’ll be getting quite a few of those, along with the bands and lids that are necessary.

It’s only natural that there should be some sort of checklist of things to have on hand when beginning home canning, whether canning is done the old fashioned way or by using products like pressure canners/cookers etc. Checking off our list of things to buy is only a matter of time, once we’ve carefully considered and reviewed consumer reviews of home canning supplies and equipment, and of course compared prices.

Besides the items mentioned already, we already have some of the commonly used kitchen gadgets and utensils that are recommended for canning at home. Dutch oven or large kettle, colander, cooking spoons, heat proof rubber spatulas, measuring cups and mixing bowls, cutting board and knives and so on. We’ll need to get lid rims, a wide mouth funnel, food mill, sieve, waterproof labels and label maker, and maybe even a bakers cooling rack.

Having an extra refrigerator/freezer allows us to take home canning and freezing to whole new level, and I can hardly wait to get started. A friend told me to be sure to buy a good quality waterbath canner with rack included, which (to me) looks like a large stew pot my mom used to have, so that’s one more item to add to my home canning checklist.

I’m excited to try out some of the delicious sounding recipes I’ve seen online from canning “experts”, and once we’re confident that our efforts of learning how to can at home have been a success, we plan to share some of what we’ve made by giving some away as thoughtful gifts to others.

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Submit An Article

Grandma — Sat, 07 May 2011 21:38:44 +0000

“Do you accept guest articles on your Grandma Stories blog? If so, what are the requirements for submitting a guest post?” I’m often asked if would accept guest articles on my blogs. Yes, I do accept guest post submissions on Grandma Stories, and you don’t have to be a grandma to write for this blog. I only ask that potential guest writers carefully review the guidelines and requirements for submitting guest posts here before emailing me to ask questions.

To submit articles for publishing on this blog, guest writers must be careful to follow legal standards for content and use of images within their guest posts, and adhere to a few specific guidelines for guest posts. Submitting guest articles for this blog is easy – just email me through the contact form with any specific questions or post topic ideas and I will respond promptly, or just email me with a copy of the guest article being submitted with whatever image is appropriate for the content.

Guest Article Submission Questions and Answers:

Do guest writers have to have a blog or website of their own? No.

Do you pay for guest posts? No.

Do you require guest writers to agree to write and submit articles on a weekly/monthly basis? No.

How many external links are allowed? Usually two, but sometimes three depending on the length of the article being submitted.

If you have your own website or blog, you can embed a link to it within the guest article and/or linked within your self-written byline paragraph at the bottom of your article that describes you and your site as a way of promoting you and/or your blog site or business.

No affiliate links and no “sponsored posts” are permitted. Guest writers who do not have a website or blog of their own may link to their Facebook page, Myspace page, Twitter page etc, or none at all – it is up to you.

Submit a Guest Article? Why?

Writing guest articles for publication online is a great way of expressing your creativity through words. If you don’t yet have a blog or website of your own but have been considering starting a blog, submitting guest posts helps to “get your feet wet” so to speak. There are many reasons for guest writing on blogs, especially for beginner blog writers wanting to get a couple links pointed at their site to build its search engine rankings.

I often find that people are more creative than they think they are, and writing articles is a great way of expressing that creativity. I’ve had people tell me in detail about a book they read or a product they tried, what they liked or disliked and why, and without even thinking about it for very long they discover they’ve just verbally written a guest article on that topic. When I ask them to write it down or type it out on the computer and send it to me as a guest post, they become very excited about the idea of doing more creative writing projects in one form or another.

Some blog writers are strictly confined within a specific niche on their own blogs and want to widen their horizons by guest posting on other topics of interest to them and others, but don’t want to start a new blog on that topic for various personal reasons.

Before submitting guest articles to me for possible publication on this blog, take the time to consider the kind of articles and subjects that fit best on this site. Grandparenting, Grandparent Visitation Rights, Aging, Health, Recipes, Crafts, Skin Care, Hair Care, Older Women’s Issues, Older Men’s Issues, Gardening, Canning, Recycling, Holidays, Religion/Spirituality, Technology and more. I prefer not to allow guest posts on Politics, nor do I write political opinion articles on any of my blogs, although I’ve been known to share my views on Facebook from time to time.

If you are unsure about a topic you would like to write and submit as a guest post, contact me and ask. I’m pretty easy. Religion, spirituality, bible/scriptural matters relevant to real life and family living are fine, as long as the content of the post is not highly controversial or inflammatory to individual beliefs or that negatively target specific religions or denominations.

Submitted guest articles do not have to be perfect, and I rarely ever reject guest posts unless the article has so many spelling/grammar mistakes that I would end up needing to virtually rewrite the entire article myself. Guest articles are run through spell checker and grammar checker, and I verify outbound link destinations and punctuation. Other than that, no changes will be made to the actual content of your guest article.

Submitted guest articles must be your own original work and must not be republished anywhere else on the web. No duplicate content. Articles are checked for duplicity with copyscape and google. Articles must have a minimum of 650 words, 800 + words are preferred, and image(s) must be free of copyright use restrictions and optimized appropriately. If you have an idea for a guest post you would like to submit, pitch your idea by emailing me through the contact form and I will reply promptly.

Guest articles should be submitted via word doc with desired image(s) attached. Once the submitted article is approved and published on the blog, the author will be notified via email along with a courtesy link to their published article. I retain the legal right to publish, edit or reject any/all article submissions for this site to maintain the integrity and reputation of the site and site owner (me). Guest article submissions requiring extensive editing will be returned to the author for rewriting, and if necessary rejected.

To submit a guest article for publication or if you have further questions about guest posting on my blog(s), email me your questions and check your inbox (or possibly the spam folder as it may filter there) for my prompt reply.

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Power Juicers, Jack LaLanne Juicers or Breville Juicers, What is the Best Juice Extractor to Buy?

Grandma — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:41:51 +0000

I wanted to buy a power juicer for fruit and vegetable juicing before we decided to start an organic garden of our own, and I’m thrilled with our recently purchased Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL juicing machine. After consulting with Consumer Reports juicer reviews of various brands and models and reading many other online customer reviews of juicers, the decision to buy a Breville juicer was an easy one.

While researching juice extractors, reading about the differences between a simple citrus juicer vs. a power juice extractor for fruit and vegetable combinations, and understanding the terminologies used for juicers was a great help in deciding which juicer to buy. I’ve of course heard of the Jack LaLanne juicers and seen the infomercials more times than I care to count hyping the LaLanne juicer as being the best juicer, so I was somewhat surprised to find it had the lowest ratings on Consumer Reports.

With so many types of juicers on the market today, trying to understand the difference between centrifugal juicers, centrifugal ejection juicers, masticating juicers, wheatgrass juicers, manual or industrial/commercial juicers and so on, can leave customers wanting to buy a juicer very confused. Plainly put, if you plan to juice fruits and vegetables together or by themselves, look for what you feel is the perfect juicer that meets your needs, preferences and budget.

Consumer Reports reviewed juicer brands including Black & Decker, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Jack LaLanne, Juiceman, Oster, Breville, Waring, West Bend, Dr. Weil and Omega brand juicers. Evaluations and comparisons were made based on overall juicing performance, convenience and noise levels. Prices of all the juicers reviewed ranged between approximately $80.00 all the way up to about $300.00, give or take a little.

CR ranked the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro juicer as its choice for “best buy”, receiving very good to excellent ratings for convenience and overall performance, but a fair rating for noise. It is also listed as being one of the cheapest juicers evaluated, with the Oster 3167 juicer model being the least expensive at a cost of just $70.00 on average.

Interestingly enough, my favorite Breville juicer is only given a fair rating for noise (I completely disagree), but received very good reviews and high marks for convenience and overall performance. If you haven’t yet subscribed to Consumer Reports magazine, I highly recommend you do. It’s the best money I’ve spent on a magazine yet. For me, choosing the Breville Juice Fountain Elite was a no-brainer; it works perfectly and one of the best features is the extremely quick and easy cleanup.

The Breville has a wide mouth food chute, a powerful motor with two speed settings (low and high), and most of the components are dishwasher safe. Visiting family and friends have enjoyed experimenting with different juicing recipes and have come up with some great tasting fruit and vegetable juice combinations that leaves us wanting more. The remaining pulp, skins from veggies and fruits etc do not go to waste nor are thrown away; these can and are used in salads, soups and stews, or can be recycled as organic garden mulch.

So, CR rated the Jack Lalanne PJP Power Juicer Pro the absolute lowest among all the other reviewed brands, makes and models of juicing machines, well below the Breville. I certainly didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new power juicer, so price comparisons between the different brands was carefully evaluated in an effort to keep costs down. Looking for the so-called “best juicer” really depends on what the consumer intends to do with the machine. People who just want to juice fruits really only need a citrus juicer, whereas those who wish to juice vegetables and fruits in various recipe combinations need what is called a juice extractor machine.

The health benefits of juicing are well known, documented and highly recommended by many physicians and healthcare professionals. It’s very interesting that people who may have difficulty digesting certain fruits or vegetables, or those who don’t like eating certain vegetables or fruits, quickly discover juicing to be a great alternative and are able to easily digest and actually enjoy consuming the very healthy, fresh uncooked foods they’ve been avoiding.

It’s exciting and fun to watch young children and teens quickly consume fruit and/or vegetable juices made with a home juicing machine, who usually turn their noses up at eating fresh, cooked or uncooked vegetables or fresh fruits. I have observed very “picky” young children, toddlers even, who absolutely love drinking juices made from the same vegetables they typically would say no to. These same “picky eater” kids actually ask mom or dad to make them these great tasting juices; juices that include tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, kale, carrots, beets, cauliflower and other “yucky” veggies.

Personally speaking, I love and enjoy eating just about every kind of vegetable there is on the market, as our organic vegetable and fruit garden shows. Buying a quality juicer is a big help in ensuring we are getting our recommended daily allowance of vegetable and fruit servings, and cranking up the stainless steel “silver bullet” Breville juicer first thing in the morning means we are doing what is necessary to get all the vitamins and nutrients needed for healthy living throughout the day.

The final push that lead me to buy the Breville Juice Fountain Elite was the several hundred positive reviews by consumers who purchased theirs on Amazon, love it above all other juicers, and highly recommend this particular model juicer. The fact that the Breville is among the top listed and best selling juicers on Amazon, along with the free shipping and discounted price, told me everything I needed to know before buying a Breville juicer.

Cooking.com and Epinions.com have also accumulated many great reviews of the Breville juicer, making this particular power juicer machine highly sought after by consumers, even though it is a little more expensive than a cheap basic juicer. We love our juicer and whichever brand and model electric juicing machine you choose that best serves your intended purposes, you’ll be glad you have joined the countless number of people who are adding fresh fruit and vegetable juices to their daily diet. Carrots, apples and beets juiced together. Yum!

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How to Plant a Garden – Why Organic Fruit, Herbs and Vegetable Gardening

Grandma — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:14:17 +0000

I learned how to plant a garden many years ago, a flower and vegetable garden specifically. So many years have passed since I started a home vegetable garden that I knew I’d have to refresh my memory on some of the most important aspects of organic gardening if I ever decided to grow a garden again.

Grandpa and I discussed garden designs and landscaping ideas for starting a large organic garden in our backyard, including the specific location for the garden and if we would need or want a vertical garden in some areas, build raised vegetable garden beds, or just plant in open soil. We opted for a basic garden style, versus spending a lot of money on fancy edging that few people besides us would see anyway.

Why Organic Gardening?

There are many reasons why eating certified organic foods, growing your own organic garden and the overall growth of the organic food market is growing rapidly. Organic.org listed what it considers to be the top 10 reasons why eating certified organic foods and supporting local farmers at farmers markets is so vitally important for our health and environment, and the health of children and future generations.

Genetically modified foods, or genetically engineered foods/genetically engineered organisms (GMOs or GM for short), has received a lot of attention over the years. Documentary films and books about the health risks and dangers of eating GMO foods and modified ingredients in much of the processed foods, meats, dairy products, vegetables, fruits etc found in grocery stores is alarming, to say the least.

Anyone unfamiliar with the rapidly growing controversy about genetically modified foods and the health risks associated with GM foods need only watch the documentary films about genetically engineered foods, and read as many articles about organic foods and books about GMOs consumers can get their hands on.

Some of these Monsanto GMO related films can be watched for free on youtube or google videos, or watch them on Netflix, Blockbuster or Amazon streaming video. Here is a short list of some of the most widely known documentary films about genetically engineered/modified foods that will likely make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up.

Food, Inc.
The Future of Food
Food Matters
The Gerson Miracle
The Beautiful Truth
The World According to Monsanto
The Dangers of Genetically Modified Food
GMO Trilogy – Hidden Dangers in Kids Meals
Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food
Genetic Engineering: The World’s Greatest Scam?
Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating
Genetically Modified Food Panacea or Poison?

Do you really know what is in the foods you and your family are eating? If the brand name Monsanto doesn’t ring a bell, or the name Jeffrey Smith, or even the news that numerous countries outside the U.S. have banned GMO imports, take the time to watch each of these 12 documentary films about genetically engineered foods with an open mind and read books and articles about the GMO controversy, and come to your own conclusions.

Growing an Organic Garden

Our garden will be grown using certified organic, non-GMO Heirloom Seeds and plants. We’re not trying to grow an organic garden fit for magazine pictures or anything, but just a basic vegetable, fruit and herbs garden that meets our needs. No frills. We don’t have a “huge” yard per se, but our backyard is definitely large enough for a sizeable fruit and vegetable garden that still leaves plenty of space for the dogs to run around.

Choosing a fruit and vegetable garden layout was pretty easy to decide on – just a simple plan for a garden based on easy access and nearest water sources, and where we won’t have to worry about keeping the dogs out of the garden and chewing or trampling on everything we’re trying to grow.

We had already made a full list of vegetables to grow in the garden, plus planting a couple of fruit trees and various herbs, but the first thing we did was use a soil tester to make sure our existing soil was in optimal condition for gardening or if the soil needed some extra help.

What to Grow in a Garden

Since we don’t have a problem of extremely limited space for a garden, like a very small garden for tiny yards, the decision process of deciding what to grow in our garden was easy. Whatever fruits, herbs and vegetables grow best in our climate, plus plenty of sunlight and water to help the garden grow efficiently is what we’ll grow.

We already have a pear tree, but we’ve recently planted a peach tree and a plum tree, which will take some time to actually produce fruit. Our ever-growing list of herbs, fruits and vegetables of things to grow in the garden include many of the typical garden growing varieties of:

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Green beans

Lettuce

Yellow squash (summer and winter)

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Onions

Asparagus

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Sweet corn

Red and green bell peppers

Spinach

Rhubarb

Watermelon

Strawberries

Blackberries

Raspberries

Cantaloupe

Garlic

Blueberries

So far, basil and cilantro are the only garden herbs on our list but I expect more herbs like rosemary and thyme to be added soon enough. As expected, our “what to grow in a garden” list keeps on growing, as more and more fruits and vegetables are added.

Some of the possible additions to our home garden include fruits and veggies that we sometimes eat, or those that we’ll have to watch and see if they will grow well enough in our region of the country or not. Our “maybe grow in a garden” includes:

Apricots

Cherries

Cranberries

Grapes

Pomegranates

Beets

Radishes

Butternut Squash

Dates

Mushrooms

Avocados

Lemon/Limes

Artichokes

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Celery

Okra

Olives

Eggplant

Sweet Potatoes

We haven’t yet discussed the possibility of growing organic vegetables, fruits and herbs etc in containers or on a trellis, but anything is possible for our garden as long as space is available without cramping the dogs too much.

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Super Bowl Snacks – BLT Dip and Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipes for Super Bowl Sunday

Grandma — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:27:39 +0000

Super Bowl XLV kickoff starts in just a few hours from now, and we’re preparing our favorite Super Bowl snacks, dips and recipes for a fun Super Bowl party with family and friends. We’ve decided to add two more snacks for our Super Bowl Sunday gathering, the BLT Dip (bacon, lettuce and tomato dip), and the delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip commonly referred to as Buffalo Dip.

Our Super Bowl watching party would not be complete without many of the most popular snacks football fans want to have and enjoy while watching the Big Game. Buffalo Chicken Dip, BLT Dip, hot and spicy chicken wings, Frito chips and bean dip, popcorn, shrimp dip, stuffed mushrooms, guacamole, vegetable tray with dipping sauces, bbq chicken, potato skins, pasta salad, pizza, and my famous Mexican 7-layer dip. We’re skipping the chili this year.

Buffalo Dip recipes can be made with chicken, franks, blue cheese and various other ingredients, and can be prepared quickly or slow-cooked in a crock pot. We’re making the quick and easy Buffalo Chicken Dip and BLT Dip for our Super Bowl party this year, so we can spend more time enjoying guests and less time in the kitchen. Our favorite BLT Dip recipe uses cream cheese, but other times we’ve used light sour cream and light mayonnaise for a more healthy snack.

BLT Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 C ranch salad dressing

1 medium size seeded and diced tomato, reserve 1 T for garnish

6 crisply cooked and chopped bacon slices

1/2 C finely chopped celery

2 T finely chopped onion

1 t sugar

Medium size serving bowl, chilled

Lettuce leaves

How to Make BLT Dip

Place softened cream cheese in a medium size mixing bowl. Gradually stir in dressing; mixing until blended well together.

Add to the cream cheese mixture: chopped bacon, celery, onion, tomato, sugar; mix well.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to allow flavors to blend.

When ready to serve, line your chilled serving bowl with lettuce leaves, then fill with the chilled BLT Dip. Lightly garnish the dip with reserved 1 tablespoon of diced tomato. Serve with your favorite dippers such as crackers, chips or toasted bread.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (10 ounce) can chicken, drained (or freshly-cooked, rotisserie, chopped chicken)

1 cup ranch dressing

3/4 cup Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce red hot sauce

Cheddar cheese, (amount to your liking)

Frito corn chip scoops, crackers, celery/vegetable dippers, toasted bread

How to Make Buffalo Chicken Dip

With your mixer, beat the softened cream cheese, ranch dressing, and red hot buffalo wing sauce until blended well.

Gently fold in shredded chicken. Spread buffalo chicken dip mixture onto pie plate lightly sprayed with Pam. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Add cheddar cheese on top and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve the buffalo chicken dip hot with your favorite dippers, Frito scoops, chips, crackers, toasted bread, etc.

When we make the Buffalo Chicken Dip, sometimes we use Texas Pete Buffalo Style Chicken Wing Sauce, but other times whatever hot sauce we have on hand.

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Easy Homemade Chicken Pot Pie – Easy Yummy Quick Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

Grandma — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:00:04 +0000

Making a homemade chicken pot pie is quick and easy, if not downright simple. Chicken and turkey pot pie recipes are so easy that even a beginner cook can easily make any kind of pot pie and quickly realize it’s not impossible at all.

The Bisquick chicken pot pie is quick and easy too, but Pillsbury and Betty Crocker also have their own recipe for chicken pot pie, and both recipes are easy, yummy and super fast. Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie tastes a lot better than the Banquet chicken pot pies in the grocery store, but beef or turkey pot pies are nowhere as good as the chicken.

Banquet recalled all of their frozen turkey pot pies and chicken pot pies a couple of years ago, after a salmonella outbreak caused 100 people to get sick, so Grandma’s Kitchen hasn’t had Banquet brand pot pies for awhile now. After reading the Marie Callender and Banquet chicken pot pie nutritional chart and seeing the astounding amount of sodium, fat and other unhealthy facts in both, the decision to make our own turkey or chicken pot pies was easy.

Some might say that this homemade chicken pot pie recipe isn’t really homemade because it calls for a ready-made pie crust vs. a pie crust make from scratch with dough, but to each his own on that regard. Quick and easy is best for our schedule, so a ready-to-bake crust fits perfectly with our busy schedule, but if you have the time and desire to make your own pie crust, by all means go for it. Just follow these easy instructions and you’ll be enjoying homemade chicken pot pie in no time flat.

Easy Yummy Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, boiled

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of potato soup

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Line a 9 inch pie dish with pastry.

Blanch frozen mixed vegetables for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain.

Dice chicken and place in a large bowl. Add vegetables, thyme, celery soup and potato soup. Stir together.

Pour filling into pastry lined pie dish. Arrange top layer of pie crust, seal and flute the edges. Cut slits in the top of the crust to allow for steam to escape.

Place pie on cookie sheet. Put aluminum foil around the pie crust edges to help prevent burning.

Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes and then serve. Quick, easy, homemade chicken pot pie that is yummy too!

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